About Bobby Jindal

Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is an American politician and the 55th and current Governor of Louisiana. Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to immigrants from India, Jindal studied biology and public policy at Brown University from 1988 to 1991. After receiving his M.Litt in political science from New College, Oxford, he worked in McKinsey & Company and interned for Representative Jim McCrery of Louisiana. In 1996, governor Murphy Foster appointed Jindal Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and in 1999 he was appointed president of the University of Louisiana System. In 2001, Jindal was appointed as the principal adviser to the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services by President George W. Bush.
He won a plurality in the open primary in the 2003 Louisiana gubernatorial election but was defeated in the runoff by Democrat Kathleen Blanco. He then won a seat in the United States House of Representatives in the 2004 elections. The second Indian American in Congress, he won re-election in 2006. He ran for Governor of Louisiana again in 2007 and won a majority in the first round. After his inauguration, he handled the disaster response to Hurricane Gustav in 2008 and delivered the Republican response to President Obama's address to Congress in February 2009. Jindal won a second term as Governor in 2011. Politically conservative, Jindal opposes abortion, same-sex marriage and flag burning, while supporting gun rights, a border fence and teaching evolution with critiques that may include intelligent design. A Catholic convert from Hinduism, Jindal has been married to Supriya Jolly since 1997, with whom he has three children.

We've heard from a lot of small businesses eager to open up again but worried about the paperwork and delays. If we smother people in paperwork, some of the businesses the SBA is trying to help may not be there.

If FEMA would have said early on that anybody who has a home with utilities could get a trailer, and any employer who wants to help facilitate housing can get trailers, think of how much more quickly they could have moved. These are some of the low-hanging fruit. They should have been some our early victories.

I'm excited the committee will see first hand the impact on Louisiana's coast. We are willing to do our share to supply the nation's energy needs, but in return we need the nation's help to rebuild the damage to our coastline. I am thrilled the committee has accepted my invitation to see firsthand the critical roll that Louisiana's ports and industry play in supplying our nation's energy needs.